The Waves Ostend

Philippe van Gelooven

• Architects

With The Waves, B2Ai architects deliver a distinctive residential development on Troonstraat in Ostend, within walking distance of the seafront and in immediate proximity to the Wellington racecourse and golf course. What has now been completed is more than a housing development: four organically shaped volumes that meander along Troonstraat and naturally embed themselves in both the urban fabric and the coastal landscape.

photo_credit Jami Productions — Jami Productions

The Waves brings together 413 apartments, a commercial plinth, collective outdoor space and an extensive underground parking and cycling infrastructure in one contemporary whole where architecture, landscape and quality of living reinforce one another. The project was developed by Vastgoedgroep Degroote, with B2Ai architects as design architect and Atelier Arne Deruyter as landscape architect.

photo_credit Vastgoedgroep Degroote — Vastgoedgroep Degroote

The project location forms the starting point of the design. The Waves occupies a distinctive threshold: between the compact city and the open expanse of the racecourse, between built environment and coastal landscape. This duality called for an architecture that does not contrast, but mediates.

Proximity to the sea here coincides with exceptional openness towards greenery. Views over the racecourse and golf course extend deep into the development, forming a natural counterbalance to the urban dynamism of Ostend. At the same time, amenities such as culture, sport, retail and mobility hubs are all close at hand.

photo_credit Philippe van Gelooven — Philippe van Gelooven

Architecture by the sea requires a different approach than in a purely urban or rural context. Not only comfort and quality matter, but also experience. The holiday atmosphere lies not solely in the surroundings, but in the way one arrives, looks around, lives and inhabits outdoor space.